Come Back to Afghanistan

To start off, I will say that this book is one that I find intriguing but also very complex. The reason I say this is primarily because of the complexity of the names that are involved. It is very hard to distinguish who is who at times. However, the character list at the beginning of the book has been a great help. In these sections that were assigned a tremendous amount has happened. In addition, I feel that the manner in which we are reading this book is at times overwhelming simply because there is so much information presented that it is hard to organize it all.


One thing that stands out mostly in my mind is when American names are brought into the book. For me, this makes the war that is discussed so much more real. It was interesting to read the views and accounts that were told by Abdul Wali and his brother. Hearing the word, “American” has a certain amount of fear attached to it just as the Taliban or Al- Qaeda does for us. To them, the Americans are portrayed as something that we are really not at all. Essentially, they describe us has being murderers. However, within Said’s writing I can see how they might have felt this way, which is an account that many Americans are not provided with. To some but not all, we are in a place that we do not belong in which we uprooted the everyday lives of their civilians.